Hello Bakers,
Chiffon Cake - customizing colors and flavors was the subject of Saturday’s DoughDr Episode. I demoed how to change our basic chiffon cake recipe to accomodate a sweeter base flavor like a lightly sweetened juice or syrup and then how to add color to the batter to make the cake really pop. Here is the link to the Live: https://youtu.be/8JvTYCUhJXo
So while we don’t want to tinker too much with out base recipe, we can reduce the sugar somewhat. This helps the cake not be overly sweet or over brown from too much sugar.
For demo, I chose guava after being inspired by guava chiffon cakes in Hawaii. But any tropical juice, mango, passionfruit or pineapple would work well.
Lemon, lime, orange and grapefruit are also classics.
With a sweeter juice we have to reduce the sugar - as I explained in the demo 10-15% of the sugar from sugar #1 (the base sugar) is removed.
It’s best if the meringue sugar remains the same as it acts as a stabilizer.
Flavors are added to the base and color to the meringue - this is so the fat in the base can carry the flavor and using the white background of the meringue we are not fighting a yellowish base color - the base will affect the final color a little (as will baking) but starting with the meringue works best.
Here is the recipe for the guava chiffon cake but you couls substitute any juice for the guava - just as I said on the Live - taste it first to determine the sweetness.
Have fun with this - and please tag me in your chiffon cake photos as I love to see your beautiful bakes.
Ingredients:
177g cake flour
127g sugar (sugar 1#)
1g salt
4g baking powder
88g veg oil
88g egg yolks
125g guava juice
3g vanilla extract
177g egg whites
88g sugar (sugar 2#)
pinch cream of tartar
*citrus zest can be added to the base to bring out the flavor - with tropical flavors - a little lime or lemon zest can add brightness.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Prep cans with a light spray or lightly grease with cake goo (recipe is below at the bottom of the post).
Cut parchment circles for the bottom of each pan.
If using 8” x 2” pans you’ll need to collar the pan. Cut 4 strips of parchment paper 3” tall and 18” long. Line the bottom and sides of the pan - trim any excess - there will need to be 2” of overlap. For an 8” x 3” pan just line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. No spray or grease.
Sift the dry ingredients with sugar #1 into a medium or large bowl, add the oil, guava juice, yolks, vanilla extract, whisk until smooth and fluffy - this can be mixed in a mixer with the paddle attachment but then the bowl has to be washed before making the meringue.
Whip the egg whites and cream of tartar until they reach a cappuccino foam consistency and then rain in sugar and continue to mix on medium high and whip until the meringue holds a medium peak.
Carefully fold in the egg whites into the egg and flour base in three increments.
Place in prepared pans and bake until a light golden brown and a skewer comes out clean - on average it takes 25/ 30 minutes - but remember the time depends on your oven.
Ideally, the cake does best if it is cooled upside down and this can be done with 8” x 3’ pans. In a shorter pan - let cool a few minutes and then remove the collar, carefully, and invert the cake onto a wire rack. Cool to room temperature. Wrap well and refrigerate.
Cakes can be refrigerated up to 24 hours and frozen for up to two weeks before finishing.